Hermanubis () is a Graeco-Egyptian god who conducts the souls of the dead to the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

. He is a

syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

from

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

and

Anubis Anubis (; ), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine hea ...

from

Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part ...

. Hermanubis was possibly one of the ancestors of the dog-headed

Saint Christopher Saint Christopher (, , ; ) is venerated by several Christian denominations. According to these traditions, he was a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman Empire, Roman emperor Decius (), or alternatively under the emperor Maximin ...

– a cynocephalus saint, who was, similarly to Anubis / Hermanubis, a powerful ferryman for travelers.

Description

Hermes' and Anubis's similar responsibilities (they were both conductors of souls) led to the god Hermanubis. He was popular during the period of Roman domination over

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Depicted having a human body and a jackal head, with the sacred

caduceus The caduceus (☤; ; , ) is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology and consequently by Hermes Trismegistus in Greco-Egyptian mythology. The same staff was borne by other heralds like Iris (mythology), Iris, the messenger of Hera. The s ...

that belonged to the Greek god Hermes, he represented the Egyptian priesthood. He engaged in the investigation of truth. The divine name (''Hermanoubis'') is known from a handful of epigraphic and literary sources, mostly of the Roman period.

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

cites the name as a designation of Anubis in his underworldly aspect, while Porphyry refers to Hermanubis as (''sýnthetos'') "composite" and (''mixéllin'') "half-Greek". Although it was not common in traditional Greek religion to combine the names of two gods in this manner, the double determination of Hermanubis has some formal parallels in the earlier period. The most obvious is the god

Hermaphroditus In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus (; , ) was a child of Aphrodite and Hermes. According to Ovid, he was born a remarkably beautiful boy whom the naiad Salmacis attempted to rape and prayed to be united with forever. A god, in answer to her pra ...

, attested from the fourth century BC onwards, but his name implies the paradoxical union of two different gods (Hermes and

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

) rather than an assimilation in the manner of Hermanubis.

References

Bibliography

* ''A history of Egypt Under Roman Rule'' by Joseph Grafton Milne (1992) p. 195 * ''Who's Who in Egyptian Mythology'' by Anthony S. Mercatante (2002) p. 56

External links

Statue of Hermanubis (Alexandria, early 2nd century CE)
, Antiquities Museum of Bibliotheca Alexandrina {{Greek religion Anubis Egyptian gods Egyptian underworld Hellenistic Egyptian deities Hermes Psychopomps Residents of the Greek underworld Roman gods Underworld gods

Description

See also

References

Bibliography

External links